Who could escape when the Emperor of China is himself the accuser? It will readily occur, from the fate of _Ho-tchung-tang_, that there is not that line of independence drawn between the executive and juridical authority, which the ingenious author of the Spirit of Laws has clearly proved to be the grand foundation of a just, legal, and efficient security of the life and property of the subject. In fact, in all state crimes, the Emperor becomes both the accuser and the judge. In the case of _Ho-tchung-tang_ he may likewise be said to have been the only evidence. But _Ho-tchung-tang_, if guilty of inordinate ambition, or acts of injustice, is far from being the only instance of such conduct in men thus raised from humble situations. The officers of government in general, though intended by the constitution as a kind of barrier between the prince and the people, are the greatest oppressors of the latter, who have seldom any means of redress, or of conveying their complaints to the Imperial ear. There is no middle class of men in China: men whose property and ideas of independence give them weight in the part of the country where they reside; and whose influence and interest are considered as not below the notice of the government. In fact, there are no other than the governors and the governed. If a man, by trade, or industry in his profession, has accumulated riches, he can enjoy them only in private. He dares not, by having a grander house, or finer clothes, to let his neighbour perceive that he is richer than himself, lest he should betray him to the commanding officer of the district, who would find no difficulty in bringing him within the pale of the sumptuary laws, and in laying his property under confiscation.